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Good sleep, good learning, good life

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Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#41

Post by rajlego »

Smithalicious wrote: post #33

This article is full of pie in the sky things that are impossible for normal people needing to earn a living. > do not wake up kids for school; if they cannot wake up in time, let them skip a class or two, or consider homeschooling This, for instance, is entirely illegal (at least in my country, The Netherlands).

I think that's one of the things I find most appealing about his writings in general. Most people don't go to global optima solutions because there are various constraints while Woz just does not bother.

These suggestions cannot be taken to their conclusions in many cases but I think they are still good inspiration to try.

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#44

Post by sradman »

joveian wrote: post #35
sradman wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding 1: Sleep loss lethality is caused by gut ROS in mice and flies [1] > ...researchers demonstrate in flies and mice that sleep loss leads to an increase of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the gut, and that neutralization of ROS can prevent oxidative stress and prolong the lifespan of sleep-deprived flies. Various biological systems seem to have recovery mechanisms associated with the sleep cycles. These cycl…

Thanks for the link. Lots of companies have products with claimed effects or measurment of sleep but personally I suspect they are almost always complete BS. I've used a recording pulse oximeter when sleeping a number of times and the pulse seems to reliably predict when I get to sleep but nothing else, not even when I am awake vs. sleeping. IMO, there is no possible way a pulse measurement could replace an EEG. I am…

See Garmin Health Announces Sleep Study Results [1].

I used a Zeo [2] mobile for a few years and I thought I had a good feel for what my sleep cycles tended to look like.

I bought a Garmin VivoSmart last Black Friday mostly to try the SpO2 and sleep tracking. I shared your skepticism but, anecdotally, the sleep cycles are as good as what I would get from Zeo.

[1] https://www.garmin.com/en-US/blog/health/garmin-health-annou...

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeo,_Inc.

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#45

Post by lolive »

martindbp wrote: post #6
lolive wrote: post #4

I did not read the article (what did you expect, we are on HN ;) Anyway, my experience has been a little bit different. I would summarize it as "good life, good sleep, good learning". And yes, order matters. The fact is that recently I was completely in my midlife crisis and was at probably 50% of my mental stamina (memory loss, lack of interest, poor focus, and insomnia ). I was ok with the fact that I was getting o…

Curious, what do you do? Get off social media, less screens, that sort of thing?

Social media: I did stop arguing on Twitter. And stopped following arguers. Still following informational accounts. But mostly Twitter is back to its original usage: a Google Reader replacement. No more a global chat.

Screens (TV): I now avoid any kind of TV series that is not already finished. No time for a show that is eventually a bad one after season 1. (a variant of the GoT syndroma. But you could call it XFiles syndroma too, if you are old enough :)

Screens (games): But the most dramatic change, and the most unexpected one, is that I have started playing FPS games again. It has increased a lot my attention and "good stress" level.

Also, I have started learning piano. Passed the first 2 years and things are getting much better now.

In the end, I suppose that I am no longer able to survive the information deluge that Internet brings. So I now focus on a few things that I consider important, and I leave the rest out of my attention.

PS: oh and let me add that i now learn new tech things through books (from Manning and O'Reilly) instead of loosing my time reading blog posts. Sounds so basic that you may laugh at that, but it made my learning process much more straightforward. (once again, I was loosing myself in the information deluge of the internet).

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#46

Post by gchamonlive »

martindbp wrote: post #6
lolive wrote: post #4

I did not read the article (what did you expect, we are on HN ;) Anyway, my experience has been a little bit different. I would summarize it as "good life, good sleep, good learning". And yes, order matters. The fact is that recently I was completely in my midlife crisis and was at probably 50% of my mental stamina (memory loss, lack of interest, poor focus, and insomnia ). I was ok with the fact that I was getting o…

Curious, what do you do? Get off social media, less screens, that sort of thing?

I think social media sucks mental stamina because you are exposed to a lot of potential social interactions without actual interaction, and that takes a huge toll on your mind. Real close human interaction recharges the mind whereas the prospect of it depletes it, as many of the interactions has to be simulated (you are only interacting with text and images, the rest is left for the mind to fill in the gaps)

In any case, that is my perception of it, not necessarily true/scientifically accurate.

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#47

Post by chrisweekly »

pleasesurfmore wrote: post #5
lolive wrote: post #4

I did not read the article (what did you expect, we are on HN ;) Anyway, my experience has been a little bit different. I would summarize it as "good life, good sleep, good learning". And yes, order matters. The fact is that recently I was completely in my midlife crisis and was at probably 50% of my mental stamina (memory loss, lack of interest, poor focus, and insomnia ). I was ok with the fact that I was getting o…

That resonates with my own experience. I walked away from a bad relationship and my mental stamina, as you call it, improved dramatically. Memory is better, I am much more active and confident. I still have a very demanding job, so maybe I should change that as well.

See also "The Happiness Equation" which boils down to "Be happy first."

NOT:

Hard work -> success -> happiness

RATHER:

Happiness -> best work -> success

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#48

Post by jmnicolas »

rajlego wrote: post #39
kqr wrote: post #36

My main takeaway from reading this a year ago is different than what most people have focused on in the comments so far. In my current life situation, lack of alarm clock (in the shape of an infant) and free running sleep are simply not possible. However, this article does highlight the importance and naturalness of a mid-day nap. When reading this I started practising mid-day naps at my desk, but I never really lear…

naps are AWESOME. Woz claims somewhere that without naps, his brain is at 60% or somesuch second half of day. Same for me (likely even worse since I usually don't get enough night sleep). One reason I never want to work for a normal company is that I wouldn't be able to take naps. Not sure how I'd survive that. One note for anyone reading this wanting to try naps: the timing matters a lot. Woz recommends napping arou…

> One reason I never want to work for a normal company is that I wouldn't be able to take naps.

It depends on the culture: I work for an absolutely normal company in France (I'm the sole dev) and at noon I go home (10 min drive) cook my meal and eat leisurely, then get a 30 minutes nap and go back to work at 2 PM.

Pay isn't great, but quality of life is high.

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#49

Post by x87678r »

After covid hit I'm having trouble sleeping too much. I'm doing 9 hours a night and occasional 1 hr nap after lunch, I feel my metabolism is slowing down and I'm putting on weight. I've started doing more aerobic exercise and it just makes me need my after lunch nap.

Re: Good sleep, good learning, good life

#50

Post by jmnicolas »

maverickJ wrote: post #15

Sleep is incredibly important for forming new connections in the brain. I just want to add another aspect of learning; The importance of focus. I will start by saying: "Do not engage the mind in the intense pursuit of too many things at once; especially things that have no relation to one another" A couple of questions that can help for solve the above issue are: 1.How many subjects am I currently learning intensely?…

> "Do not engage the mind in the intense pursuit of too many things at once; especially things that have no relation to one another"

The author "incremental reading" technique directly contradicts this. I don't know who's right though.

Here is a YT video of him watching a couple seconds of dozens of YT videos to extract knowledge : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOJyO7QDEX4

I'll admit it seems absolutely counter intuitive!

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